1. What kind of records are covered?

The definition of "public records" covers virtually every record, paper or electronic or otherwise, owned or controlled by a public agency. If an entity is considered a "public agency" solely because it "derives at least twenty-five percent (25%) of its funds expended by it in the Commonwealth of Kentucky from state or local authority funds," Ky. Rev. Stat. 61.870(1)(h), then only the records that relate to the operations funded by the government are considered "public" records:

"Public record" means all books, papers, maps, photographs, cards, tapes, discs, diskettes, recordings, software or other documentation regardless of physical form or characteristics, which are prepared, owned, used, in the possession of or retained by a public agency. "Public record" shall not include any records owned or maintained by or for a body referred to in subsection (1)(h) of this section that are not related to functions, activities, programs or operations funded by state or local authority.

Ky. Rev. Stat. 61.870(2).

In Hardin County v. Valentine, 894 S.W.2d 151 (Ky. Ct. App.,1995), the court held that the patient medical records of a publicly owned hospital are not public records under the definition listed above: "Clearly, the medical records of those patients in a public hospital are not related to the functioning of the hospital, the activities carried on by the hospital, its programs or its operations." Id. at 152.